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China Announces Cuts at Military Parade

Updated 04.14.17 9:40AM ET / Published 09.02.15 11:02PM ET

Damir Sagolj/Reuters

China commemorated the 70th anniversary of the World War II victory over Japan in a military parade on Wednesday while President Xi Jinping announced a cut to People's Liberation Army by 300,000 personnel. The parade comes after the U.S. said five Chinese ships were spotted off Alaska in the Bering Sea for the first time. More than 30 foreign government officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, attended the parade. An estimated 12,000 troops and 200 aircraft were present in Tiananmen Square, including tanks and missiles. State media reports more than 80 percent of the machinery on display were shown to the pubic for the first time.